


Mayoral Duties

by KerryBear



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: Bonding, M/M, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-04 17:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3076823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KerryBear/pseuds/KerryBear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter gets Animal Crossing for 3DS. Rocket, eventually, gets roped in. As expected, things get intense-- er, at least as intense as Animal Crossing can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mayoral Duties

"What the hell is that?" a very tired, very frustrated raccoon asked, thinking about how badly he needed to be back on the Milano, taking a nap.

The team had decided to take a pit stop at an acclaimed bizarre, renowned for selling artifacts from planets that are still developing and as of yet unable to leave their home world. Artifacts like these were often desired to learn about youthful cultures, and as far as Rocket was concerned, there was no point wasting his time looking at this primitive crap. It's not like it could help them in any way, since all their gear was far more advanced. 

Peter, of course, only wanted to get in touch with Earth culture. He had been walking up and down the shops, looking for every piece of Earth technology that he could grab. 

"I have no idea. It says... '3DS XL'...? It looks pretty primitive... But they didn't have this stuff when I was a kid," Peter wondered, examining the box, which carried an illustration of the red, rectangular device.

\----

That was how it started. After a few days of scoping out other shops, scattered across the galaxy, and a week or so of nonstop gaming, Peter had become enamored to it. 

"Seriously? You're still playing that dumb thing?" Rocket chastised him, snarling a little as he walked into the main quarters and saw Peter fixated on the screen. 

"Uh, yeah, I'm still playin' it. Why, d'you have a problem with it?" Peter retorted, his eyes unwavering.

"Nah, I guess not. I just don't get what's so great about it. What d'you do in it, anyway? Can't be  _that_ entertainin'..." 

Peter flashed the screen at Rocket momentarily. It looked colorful, and depicted a sky on the top screen, and a lot of grass and cute little characters on the bottom.

"It's called 'Animal Crossing.' You're, like, the mayor of this li'l town in it and you have to make sure all your villagers are happy and you can do a bunch of stuff, like decorate your house, or collect stuff, or whatever! It's awesome. And it's super cute," Peter exclaimed, smiling widely at Rocket. Rocket smirked at Peter, scoffing quietly to himself.

"Pfft, seriously?  _That's_ what you've spent so much time on? What a fuckin' loser, oh my God."

"Whatever, man, don't knock it 'til you try it. Jeez," his smile shrinking only a little.

 ----

A week passed. Two weeks. A month. By now, Peter had become a pretty hardcore pro. There wasn't a night that went by where the team didn't see him play at least an hour of it.

It was the dark of night at this point though. Rocket sat in his room, alone, tinkering with some of his spare machinery. He was just trying to pass time through the night; He didn't really want to sleep. He never did. Sleeping usually meant very intense nightmares, and he figured he could be doing something more productive with his time anyway. 

 _He's been playin' that damn game for-fucking-ever. How good can it be?_ Rocket pondered to himself, thinking silently as he messed around with spare scraps. 

_I mean, it's a primitive piece of crap. Right? I-I mean... No. D'you know how much he'd laugh if he found out you stole his piece of junk just to play that stupid-ass game? I-I can't do that... Right? Yeah. Right._

A half hour passed. Rocket sat in his bed, his tail twitching in agitation. He flattened his ears, staring at the wall. A tiny yawn escaped his maw, but he wouldn't let himself go to sleep. A low, frustrated growl emanated from him.

 _Holy shit. I'm gonna do it. Fuck it. Maybe I'll just take a look. Shit. Fuck it, fine, whatever, let's just get it over with._ His growl got a little louder as he shoved off of his bed, sneaking quietly out the door.

\----

"Has anyone seen my 3DS?" Peter asked, shortly after waking up. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, still very groggy."

"No."

"No, I have not."

"I am Groot." 

Rocket's ears flattened immediately. He got up and started walking towards his room casually; Maybe if he didn't say anything, they wouldn't notice. That was his line of thinking, at least, until Peter chimed in.

"Rocket? You seen it?"

He spun around, ears still flattened, looking down. 

"Tch, what? You think I stole it or somethin'? That is the stupidest, most ridiculous thing I have  _ever_ heard. What would I want with your dumb game anyway?"

"I-I wasn't sayin' that, I just thought you mighta seen it. Why're you so pissy about it?" 

He rolled his eyes, snarling at Peter. 

"Fine, ya got me." He glared, blushing a little under his fur; He didn't wanna admit that he started playing it and already made his first house payment and earned over 100,000 bells after just five hours of playing it. He hadn't really slept yet. "I stole your goddamned game 'cause I was curious, sue me. C'mon, I got it in my room, just follow me so you can lay off me."

"Okay, jeez, all ya had to do was say that... Y'know, if you wanted to see you could've just asked."

"Whatever," Rocket spat, leading Rocket to his room.

\----

He retrieved Peter's 3DS off of his table, handing it to him.

"So," Peter started, with a stupid smirk shining on his face. "Didja play it~?" 

Rocket glared for a moment, covering his face in his hands frustratedly. 

"...Ugh, yeah, I made a character. I was just curious, that's all, it's not like it was that fun..." He lied as Peter loaded up his town, taking a seat on Rocket's bed. Rocket sat across from him, a firm glare still stuck on his face.

"Holy sh--! You already paid off your first house payment? I put that off for like a week!"

Rocket's ears perked up immediately, and a slight smirk appeared on his face as he realized how much this mattered to Peter. His entire demeanor changed as he decided to brag about it as much as was humanly possible.

"What, was that a lot of money? I didn't really notice. It was real easy," He taunted, trying hard not to laugh at Peter's surprise.

"How much cash did you have left over?" 

Rocket looked him hard in the eye. "130,000 bells."

"WHAT? I-I keep spending money and the most I've had at one time is, like, 70,000... I only have 30,000 right now! How the hell did you get so much money?" His eyes were wide; He was in total disbelief. He thought he was so good at this game.

"Have you even  _been_ to the island? Jeez, it's there for a reason," He scoffed, dismissively, still stifling a laugh.

Peter looked intensely at Rocket, simultaneously admiring him and being somewhat pissed off that he was so obviously beaten at Animal Crossing, of all things. He didn't see it coming.

"Rocket, man-- You gotta keep playin' this. You're so hardcore at it, I gotta see you play it so I can learn some tips from you." 

Rocket chuckled, somewhat condescendingly. 

"Alright, sure. Anything to see you as awestruck as you are now," He teased, knowing this would be a good way to get Peter to look up to him more... and maybe to bond with Peter? Not that he cared to admit that was something he cared about.

\----

Two weeks later, Rocket had completely overtaken the town. Despite whatever titles Peter seemed to hold, Rocket was the true mayor of the town.

Despite the command Rocket had over the town's quality, both of them had made the game a regular part of their lives. They had a general structure for who would play when, since there was only one 3DS and they wanted to share a town. Peter would play for the first half of the day, mostly in the morning and a little before noon, and Rocket would play during the evening and the night time. All the rest of the time, of course, was taken up by work. Animal Crossing can't interfere with, y'know, guarding the galaxy, or whatever it is they do. They even had the late-night ordinance so Rocket could talk to their villagers while he played! And Peter never got up early enough for their sleep patterns to matter. 

It was evening time now, just after dinner. Rocket and Peter sat in the main living quarters, Rocket's eyes fixated on the 3DS, and Peter's eyes lingering towards the same screen; it wasn't uncommon for them to get impatient for their next turn, either one of them. Peter tapped his foot anxiously, leaning over to watch over Rocket's shoulder.

"...Y'know, watchin' me play won't make tomorrow mornin' come any faster..." Rocket chastised, his eyes unwavering. 

"Yeah, I know, I got it. I'm just curious about what you're doin'!" Peter defended himself, leaning back to his own space slightly.

"What're you doin', anyway? Is it something I can't watch?" He continued, eyeing Rocket suspiciously.

Rocket's tail twitched slightly. Peter usually identified that with anger, or at least annoyance. 

"What's it to you? Gaah, hey-- Listen, I'm, uh-- I'm just gonna go play in my room. Nothin' personal! I guess. Just, uh-- I'll see you tomorrow, okay, Quill?" He stammered out slightly, eyeing Peter back. He rushed out, uncharacteristically nervous-sounding. It wasn't something Peter had seen a lot; it was some kind of cross between his usual annoyance with Peter's antics, and an unusual secretiveness. Peter stared at him, hesitating to find something to say, eyes stuck on Rocket as he stumbled out.

 _What the hell? He was literally fine like two seconds ago...?_ He thought to himself, yawning sleepily as he processed the situation.

\----

"ROCKET! It's my turn to play, c'mon!" Peter yelled, having only been awake for about ten minutes, just long enough to crawl out of bed.

A drowsy shuffling emerged from behind Rocket's door, followed by a sleepy-eyed Rocket as the door opened.

"Woah. Have you slept at all?" Peter asked him, amazed at the level of exhaustion on Rocket's face.

"Only an hour less than usual. Or somethin' like that," He responded, his fur matted up in certain places all over his head. It was pretty obvious all he had done was lie in bed and play Animal Crossing. Usually Groot made sure he got at least a little bit of sleep, but apparently not even Groot could keep Rocket from his Animal Crossing.

"And hey, have you been runnin' in the town, Quill?" Rocket asked, a stern glare plastered onto his tired face.

"Uh-- Yeah? Why?" 

"You idiot, that's bad for the town... Now I gotta plant flowers everywhere to try 'n' get it to grow back." 

"Oh-- S-Sorry, I guess?" 

Rocket sighed a little, his ears flattening sympathetically. 

"It's okay, don't worry about it. It's not a big deal," He said. He handed Peter the 3DS, ears still sharply flattened to his head. 

"Just, uh-- Y-Yeah, here ya go. Whatever. I-I'm goin' to bed," He stammered out, as he irritably pawed at a fur mat on his head, trying to flatten it a little. Peter noted the slight nervousness in his voice; it was the same kind of nervousness that was there last night.

"Uh, alright, Rocket. Go get some sleep, bud," Peter replied, a nurturing tone in his voice.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll, uh... I'll talk to ya later, 'kay?" He said through a yawn. To Peter, it almost seemed like he had something in mind to talk about later.

Peter loaded up the game, as usual. He greeted Isabelle, walked outside of his house, checked his mail-- Then, all of a sudden, his suspicious were confirmed. 

In his mailbox were about five letters, all from Rocket. 

 _Holy shit,_ was the only thing Peter was thinking.  _What the hell are these? Th-They all have gifts attached._

He opened the first one, ultimately overwhelmed with curiosity. 

\----

_Dear Quill,_

_Ugh, look, you're a huge loser_

_But I guess I kinda have_

_a huge crush on you. Or whatever._

_Don't tell anyone. Er, not_

_right away. Okay?_

_From, Rocket_

\----

Peter's face was bright red at this point. 

_Holy shit. Is he serious? He's gotta be serious, he wouldn't joke about stuff like this. Oh my Go--_

"Peter? You okay?" Gamora's voice trailed into Peter's thoughts. "You seem embarrassed."

"NO! I-I mean! I'm fine, just, uh-- I gotta go do something!" He stuttered out, not unlike Rocket the night before, then he rushed to his room, opening the next letter as he went.

\----

_Dear Quill,_

_I know that last letter probably_

_came as a pretty big shock._

_that's why I'm sending more_

_just to make sure things're okay._

_Or whatever. Lemme send more._

_From, Rocket_

__\----_ _

__Dear Quill,_ _

__You aren't weird about this stuff,_ _

__right? I mean, let's be real, you've_ _

__stuck it in all sorts of weird shit._ _

__I know I'm, y'know... Weird, or gross,_ _

__or whatever. Idk, man._ _

___ From, Rocket _

___\----_ _ _

Peter looked at the 3DS sadly. He knew Rocket had self-esteem issues, and as adorable of a way to admit feelings for someone as this was, Peter didn't want it to take a negative turn. He liked Rocket; he didn't think he was gross. He decided it was high on his priority list to talk to him as soon as possible. Then he looked at the rest of the mail; there were still two letters left.

\----

_Dear Quill,_

_Look, I know I'm furry, and small,_

_and usually pretty angry, but..._

_You make me feel like a better person._

_With your dumb, cheery smile and_

_stupid-ass music. You're good for me._

_From, Rocket_

__\----_ _

He flopped over in bed, crawling under the blankets, trying to act like he wasn't blushing like an idiot. 

_This game works fucking miracles._

_\----_

_Dear Quill,_

_I dunno. I guess that's all I have to say._

_Just, uh, lemme know how you feel._

_Don't feel pressured or nothin'! You're_

_allowed to tell me no, y'know..._

_I just, uh... Like you, or, whatever._

_Thinkin' of you, I guess, Rocket_

__\----_ _

He practically rolled around in his bed, grinning as cheerfully as he ever had. He immediately got to writing a letter back, and then looked at the gifts Rocket had attached. They were all music boxes of all the K.K. Slider songs Peter had playing in his house. "Go K.K. Rider," "Bubblegum K.K.", "K.K. Rockabilly," "K.K. Disco," and-- This one seemed a little more personal. "I Love You." Peter couldn't handle it at this point. He had to let Rocket know how he felt too. He wrote a letter back, went into his drawer to get out a gift or two, and bought a few sheets of stationary from the shop.

\----

Rocket was sitting in his room. He hadn't slept, still. He knew Peter was going to see those letters in no times. Honestly, he was still in shock that he did something that gushy.

Then, he heard a knock on his door, followed by the familiar sound of Peter dashing away from the room as fast as he could; he knew it was Peter. He ran in a very distinctly uncoordinated way. He opened the door, looking down at the floor. It was their 3DS.

 _Oh my fucking God._ Rocket thought to himself. He wasn't sure if he was scared of Peter's response, annoyed that he didn't just come talk, or flattered that Peter gave up a majority of his turn for the day just to respond like this.

He booted up the town, surprised as he stepped outside. He didn't usually see it during the day time. It looked much different than the way he usually saw it. He, of course, had mail. A lot of mail. Or at least more than usual.

He flattened his ears anxiously, opening up the first letter: the first of five, all from Peter.

\----

_Dear Rocket,_

_I love you too. <3_

_From, StarLord_

__\----_ _

Rocket didn't think about it a lot, but if there was one thing his fur was good for, it was hiding his constant blush that he got just from seeing Peter do stupid shit all the time. It was as noticeable as it ever could be right now.

_What the fuck? Is he fucking with me? H-He doesn't really...? Does he?_

He opened up the next letter. The next four letters. They all said the same thing.

\----

_Dear Rocket,_

_ <3 <3 <3 <3_

_ <3 <3 <3 <3 _

_ <3 <3 <3 <3 _

_ <3 <3 <3 <3_

_ <3 <3 <3 <3_

_From, StarLord_

_\----_

That was all any of them said. He detached the presents that were on each letter. The first one was a Robo Stereo. It wasn't surprising; Peter looooved that faux-futuristic looking stuff, and Rocket loved it because Peter loved it. The other four gifts were all songs, presumably to play in the new stereo. "Space K.K.," "K.K. Love Song," "Stale Cupcakes," and "Pondering." Rocket didn't know if he picked those songs for any reason... But he thought it was sweet anyway. 

 _I can't believe that fucking loser. Holy shit._ Rocket gushed, wishing only that Peter had explained his feelings more. But that "I love you" was all he needed to know he'd made the right choice in mailing those letters.

\----

Peter waited in his room, knowing it wouldn't be long before Rocket reacted personally. As expected, a quiet knock reached his ears. He opened the door, seeing a very shy, very excited looking Rocket.

"Uh-- Hey--! So, uhm--! Fuck. You know, uh...! Fucking shit. Sorry, I, uh-- Fuck this, can I just come in?" He stuttered out, annoyed and very embarrassed, but too lovestruck to say anything else.

"Yeah, man! Uhm--" He replied, before Rocket took a seat on his bed. They sat in silence, unsure of how to advance the conversation.

"..."Stale Cupcakes", really~? That's the song you decide to send to me, ya d'ast idiot~?" Rocket teased him, finally getting his act together.

Peter smirked, happy to see Rocket confidently talking to him. "Pfft, what, like "I Love You" is any less cheesy? At least mine didn't drip with that gushy, mushy affection that you claim to hate." 

Rocket blushed heavily, thankful once again for his fur. Peter, of course, knew when he was blushing anyway.

"Fuck off, you dumb nerd, oh my God. Don't be such a loser, jeez," Rocket gushed out, trying to mask his affections.

"Whatever you say, cutie."

Rocket leaned affectionately against Peter. His ears twitched slightly as he looked up at Peter.

"Y'know we're gonna need to get another 3DS, right? So we can both play at the same time. I'll visit your town plenty though to keep it in shape, Mayor StarLord," He said the last part with dripping, affectionate sarcasm.

"Good, someone's gotta do it, my villagers would probably die otherwise. Economic collapse, instantly."

They paused for a moment, staring at each other affectionately, still unsure how to act with each other.

"...What a fucking loser," Rocket said, finally, already starting up the 3DS. They had a town to manage.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my God, this fic is so gushy. Second fic ever! This one's way less angsty, but this is super important to me~ Animal Crossing is one of my favorite things to do with my boyfriend. This and laser tag are very important couple bonding activities~
> 
> Oh, and does anyone know what the usual standard is for tagging, as far as Gotg (Movies), Gotg (All Media Types), or Gotg (Comics)?? Like, what are the significant differences between the three that people expect so I can tag these fics the best way?
> 
> Also, I finished at like four in the morning. If there are very blaring flaws in sentences that defy logical reasoning, lemme know. Thanks for readin'! Lemme know what you thought!


End file.
